I heard it again, though, and I walked toward the door of the shop. Was it coming from outside? Was someone hurt? I pushed open the door and stepped out, but everything seemed fine on the sidewalk. I heard a caw and looked up—there was a crow on a lamp post, and it fluttered its wings at me. I started to smile, but then I heard the noise again.
It was definitely someone in pain—the type of groaning that meant someone was pretty badly injured. I started walking without really thinking, trying to follow the sound. I heard the fluttering of wings behind me, and I felt good knowing my crow friend was coming along.
It was a weird experience. I kind of felt like I was underwater. Everything was sort of muffled around me other than that gasping sound, and I walked without even being aware of where I was going. It was like I was being tugged along.
Time seemed hazy and indistinct. I vaguely had the thought that maybe I had low blood sugar, because I wasn’t feeling right at all, but then the gasping sound cut through my head again, and I stopped walking. I looked over at a small, one-story house with an unkempt lawn; the sound was coming from inside.
Still feeling hazy and weird, I walked up the front steps and tried the door without even knocking. It opened, and I walked into the house.
“Sebbie? Sebbie? What the fuck? What happened?” Toby’s voice sounded hysterical, and I blinked my eyes at him.
I looked around, unsure where I even was. It looked like a living room, but I didn’t recognize it. Toby was kneeling in front of me, and I was sitting on a couch. Dexter was across the room, leaning over an older man who was lying on the floor. He looked to be in his sixties, with pale hair going white, and he was breathing shallowly.
“Cuts and abrasions, fractured wrist, dislocated shoulder, concussion,” I rattled off.
Huh. I wasn’t sure how I knew all that.
I heard a crow caw from outside the window, and I turned my head. When I did, I saw another body on the floor across the room. He was middle-aged, and he bore a striking resemblance to the older man. His son, I thought from the likeness.
The crow cawed again, and I said, “Heart attack.”
I wasn’t sure how I knew that, either, but I did. I was staring at the body, but I saw Toby get up out of the corner of my eye. I could hear him and Dexter talking, although their voices sounded muffled. I didn’t understand half of what they said, either, but it didn’t seem very important.
There was something about the body, and I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off of it. Which was weird, because I saw dead people all the time at work. Bodies never bothered me.
“Hellbound?” Toby’s voice asked.
“Very gray. Smells like drugs. Might have been on the way, but wasn’t there yet,” Dexter answered.
“He must’ve been fighting with the other guy. But how the hell did Sebbie get here?” Toby asked.
“Dunno,” Dexter answered.
“Well, we gotta call 911. We need an ambulance for the injured guy,” Toby said.
The man would live. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did.
“Fucking hate involving the police,” Dexter muttered.
“Yeah, but Sebbie didn’t kill anyone. We weren’t involved. He just… ended up here. Or something. Isn’t that right, Sebbie?” Toby asked, kneeling in front of me again.
I blinked my eyes, trying to focus on him. I felt… funny. A little disconnected, a little out of myself.
“I think I have low blood sugar,” I said. “Or maybe I’m going into shock. I don’t feel right.”
“Shit,” Dexter said, and then he was on the phone, stepping out the front door of the house.
“Seb, what happened?” Toby asked again.
I blinked a few more times. Looking at Toby helped. He was my friend. We’d known each other for ages. This would all probably end up in a book, although Toby would surely put some weird supernatural twist on it all. But it was just bad luck, really. That had to be it.
I took a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. “I heard a noise. It sounded like someone was in pain. I followed the noise and ended up here.”
“Okay. So you were walking by and you heard a noise and came to investigate. The older man looks like you checked him out or cared for him or whatever. That makes sense. That’s fine,” Toby said, still staring into my eyes. “But Seb, how did you get here to the house?”
“I walked,” I answered. “I heard a noise.”
Dexter walked back in, and he knelt down in front of me, too. “Listen, Sebbie. You were out taking a walk and getting some fresh air, and then when you were in front of the house you heard the noise, okay?”
